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Quick Facts
Anaerobic digesters provide a variety of environmental and public health benefits including:
greenhouse gas abatement, organic waste reduction, odor reduction, and pathogen destruction.
Anaerobic digestion is a carbon-neutral technology to produce biogas that can be used for heating,
generating electricity, mechanical energy, or for supplementing the natural gas supply.
In 2010, 162 anaerobic digesters generated 453 million kWh of energy in the United States in
agricultural operations, enough to power 25,000 average-sized homes.1
In Europe, anaerobic digesters are used to convert agricultural, industrial, and municipal wastes into
biogases that can be upgraded to 97 percent pure methane as a natural gas substitute or to
generate electricity. Germany leads the European nations with 6,800 large-scale anaerobic
digesters, followed by Austria with 551.2
In developing countries, small-scale anaerobic digesters are used to meet the heating and cooking
needs of individual rural communities. China has an estimated 8 million anaerobic digesters while
Nepal has 50,000.3
Figure 1: Number of operating anaerobic digesters in select European countries.
230
84
237
68
37
26
Germany
Austria
459
France
468
Switzerland
551
Netherlands
Sweden
UK
6800
Finland
Turkey
Ireland
Source: Country Report of Member Countries, Istanbul, April 2011. IEA Bioenergy Task 37.
Background
Anaerobic digestion is a natural process in which bacteria break down organic matter in an oxygen-free
environment to form biogas and digestate. A broad range of organic inputs can be used including manure,
food waste, and sewage, although the composition is determined by the industry, whether it is agriculture,
industrial, wastewater treatment, or others. Anaerobic digesters can be designed for either mesophilic or
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thermophilic operation at 35C (95F) or 55C (131F), respectively.4 Temperatures are carefully
regulated during the digestion process to keep the mesophilic or thermophilic bacteria alive. The resulting
biogas is combustible and can be used for heating and electricity generation, or can be upgraded to
renewable natural gas and used to power vehicles or supplement the natural gas supply. Digestate can be
used as fertilizer.
Description
Anaerobic digestion has a defined process flow that consists of four distinct phases: pre-treatment,
digestion, biogas processing and utilization, and disposal or reuse of solid waste.
1. In pre-treatment, wastes may be processed, separated, or mixed to ensure that they will decompose
in the digester;
2. During digestion, waste products are broken down by bacteria and biogas is produced;
3. Biogas produced is either combusted or upgraded and then used to displace fossil fuels. During
upgrading, scrubbers, membranes, or other means are used to remove impurities and carbon
dioxide (CO2) from biogas; and
4. Reuse or disposal of solid digested waste. Digested waste has a high nutrient content and can be
used as fertilizer so long as it is free of pathogens or toxics, or it can be composted to further
enhance nutrient content.5
Digestion process
Digestion, or decomposition, occurs in three stages. The first stage consists of hydrolysis and acidogenesis,
where enzyme secreting bacteria convert polymers into monomers like glucose and amino acids and then
these monomers are transformed into higher volatile fatty acids. The second stage is acetogenesis, in which
bacteria called acetogens convert these fatty acids into hydrogen (H2), CO2, and acetic acid. The final stage
is methanogenesis, where bacteria called methanogens use H2, CO2, and acetate to produce biogas, which
is around 55-70 percent methane (CH4) and 30-45 percent CO2.6
Types of anaerobic digesters
Though there are many different types of digesters that can be used for agricultural, industrial, and
wastewater treatment facility wastes, digesters can be broadly grouped based on their ability to process
liquid or solid waste types (Table 1).
Table 1: Types of Anaerobic Digesters
Type of waste
Appropriate digester
Description
Liquid waste
Covered lagoon
digester/Upflow anaerobic
sludge blanket/Fixed Film
Covered lagoon or sludge
blanket type digesters are
used with wastes
discharged into water.
Slurry waste
Complete mix digester
Semi-solid waste
Plug flow digester
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The decomposition of
waste in water creates a
naturally anaerobic
environment.
composition is 11 percent
or greater). Wastes are
deposited in a long,
heated tank that is
typically situated below
ground. Biogas remains in
the tank until use or
flaring.
Source: Managing Manure with Biogas Recovery Systems: Improved Performance at Competitive Costs. EPA AgSTAR
Industrial
Organic waste generated by industrial processes, particularly waste from the food processing
industry, can be used as a feedstock for an anaerobic digester. Food waste makes an excellent
feedstock, as it has as much as 15 times the methane production potential that dairy cattle manure
does. 9 Food waste substrates may also be combined with manure to improve methane generation in
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a process known as co-digestion. Much like agriculture, different digesters are used depending on
the moisture content of the waste feedstock. Biogas is typically used for heat or other energy
production when produced from industrial wastes.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP)
Wastewater treatment facilities employ anaerobic digesters to break down sewage sludge and
eliminate pathogens in wastewater. Often, biogas is captured from digesters and used to heat
nearby facilities. Some municipalities have even begun to divert food waste from landfills to WWTPs;
this relieves waste burdens placed on local landfills and allows for energy production.10
Municipal solid waste (MSW)
The compaction and burial of trash at MSW facilities creates an anaerobic environment for
decomposition. As a result, landfills naturally produce large amounts of methane. Gas emitted from
MSW facilities is typically called landfill gas, as opposed to biogas. The primary difference between
the two is the lower methane content of landfill gas relative to biogas approximately 45-60 percent
compared to 55-70 percent. There are 510 MSW facilities in the U.S. that utilize landfill gas capture
to reclaim naturally emitted methane, which generate enough energy to power 433,000 homes. 11
In a landfill gas collection system, gas is directed from various points of origin in waste facilities to a
central processing area using a system of wells, blowers, flares, and fans. It is then upgraded and
either flared to reduce odor and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or combusted to produce energy
or heat. Since it has lower methane content than biogas, it requires greater upgrading in order to
become a substitute for natural gas. The figure below depicts a MSW landfill gas system.
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Figure 3: Diagram of a Landfill Gas Collection System.
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GHG emissions are also reduced when the nutrient-rich digestate created from anaerobic digestion is used
to displace fossil-fuel based fertilizers used in crop production. This digestate makes a natural fertilizer that
is produced with renewable energy as opposed to fossil fuels.
Additional environmental benefits outside of GHG reduction stem from the use of anaerobic digesters. For
one, the process of anaerobic digestion reduces waste quantities by decomposing organic material. This
alleviates the disposal burden on municipal landfills and cuts down on environmental problems associated
with landfilling or stockpiling large amounts waste, including problems such as water supply contamination,
eutrophicationwhere oxygen levels in surrounding bodies of water may decrease due to algal blooms
brought on by nutrient loading and land resource constraints. Anaerobic digesters and the combustion of
biogas also eliminate noisome odors created by organic decomposition. For MSWs, landfill gas capture
facilities prevent hazards associated with the accumulation and subsurface migration of flammable landfill
gas.12 Finally, anaerobic digesters reduce the number of pathogens present in many types of waste.13
Cost
The net-cost of anaerobic digesters and the production of biogas depend on a number of factors, including
the following:
the methane production potential of the feedstock used;
digester type;
volume of waste and intended hydraulic retention time;
the amount of waste available as a feedstock;
the capital and operating costs of the digester type needed for a particular application;
the intended use of the biogas produced; and
the value of the fertilizer produced as a byproduct of digestion.
The type and size of the digester used will have a large impact on cost, as some digesters are more costly to
construct and operate. The use of biogas will also have an effect on the net-cost of an anaerobic digester.
Depending on the project and the region in which it is being developed, the type of fuel a digester is
displacing will have an effect on its net-cost. For instance, substituting upgraded biogas for natural gasas
opposed to using it to produce electricityin an area where electricity is a less expensive energy source will
make a project more cost-effective. In some cases, the use of a digester will have external benefits that may
not be reflected in its cost. For example, anaerobic digestion may cut down on municipal waste disposal
costs by decreasing the amount of waste deposited in landfills. It may also decrease environmental
regulation compliance costs, such as those associated with water protection or odor control.
The EPA has issued some cost estimates for digesters in livestock operations. These estimates, based on
farm and animal size, are expressed in animal units (AUs) equal to 1,000 pounds of live animal weight.
Costs estimates are as follows:
Covered lagoon digester: $150-400 per AU
Complete mix or plug flow digester: $200-400 per AU
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These estimates are based solely on the upfront capital costs associated with installing a digester and do
not include operating costs or costs of installing energy generation equipment like turbines.14
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can damage systems. Performance issues with agricultural digesters in the 1980s stalled their
development and damaged their reputation amongst farmers.23 Improvements have been made to the
current generation of digesters, but questions about long-term reliability still remain.
Investment uncertainty
Installation, siting, and the operation of digesters remain costly. When biogas is utilized for energy,
agricultural digesters have a payback period of around 3 to 7 years24; WWTP digesters have a payback
period of less than 3 years, and less if food wastes are also accepted as co-digestion fuel.25 Financial
incentives have helped to catalyze the development of digesters with longer payback periods, but
uncertainty about long-term support for digester projects, in the form of tax incentives or subsidies, has
impeded development.
Interconnection with the electricity grid
While the Energy Policy Act of 2005 required net metering (the ability for electricity consumers to sell
electricity generated on-site back to a utility) to be offered to consumers upon request in every state,
disparate policy implementation and electricity rates have hindered wide-scale adoption of anaerobic
digesters for electricity generation from agricultural sources. California, for example, does not allow utility
providers to apply standby charges, minimum monthly charges, or interconnection fees,26 but utility
providers do not buy back excess electricity, leading many farmers to burn-off excess gas rather than to
provide the utilities with free energy to the grid.27 Further hindering adoption are varying limits on the
amount of electricity that may be sold back to the grid under net metering rules.28 The situation should
improve as electricity providers gain experience in incorporating anaerobic digesters into the electrical grid.
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Feed-in Tariffs
Feed-in tariffs require that utilities purchase energy from certain generation facilities at a favorable rate. As
demonstrated in Germany, a feed-in tariff that mandates the purchase of biogas energy from anaerobic
digesters and provides a financial return to digester projects could catalyze their development.
The Agstar Program. U.S. Farm Anaerobic Digestion Systems: A 2010 Snapshot. U.S. EPA. U.S. EPA. Accessed June 2, 2011.
IEA Bioenergy Task 37. Country Reports of Member Countries, Istanbul, April 2011. International Energy Agency. Accessed June 3,
2011.
2
IEA Bioenergy. Biogas Production and Utilisation. International Energy Agency. May 2005. Accessed June 3, 2011.
Lukehurst, C. T., Frost, P., Al Seadi, T. Utilisation of digestate from biogas plants as biofertiliser. IEA Bioenergy. June 2010.
Accessed June 3, 2011.
4
Fabien, Monnet. An Introduction to the Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Waste. Biogas Max. Remade Scotland, November 2003.
Accessed June 13, 2011.
5
Ibid.
Oregon Department of Energy. Biogas Technology. Oregon Department of Energy. Accessed June 3, 2011.
Supra note 1.
The Benefits of Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste At Wastewater Treatment Facilities. U.S. EPA. U.S. EPA. Accessed June 3, 2011.
10
Ibid.
11
Landfill Methane Outreach Program. Frequently Asked Questions. U.S. EPA. U.S. EPA. Accessed June 6, 2011.
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12
Landfill Methane Outreach Program. Basic Information. U.S. EPA. U.S. EPA. Accessed June 6, 2011.
13
Supra note 7.
The Agstar Program. Managing Manure with Biogas Recovery Systems. Improved Performance at Competitive Costs. U.S. EPA. U.S.
EPA, Winter 2002. Accessed June 13, 2011.
14
15
Supra note 5.
16
Supra note 3.
17
Supra note 7.
18
Supra note 1.
19
U.S. EPA Combined Heat and Power Partnership. Opportunities for and Benefits of Combined Heat and Power at Wastewater
Treatment Facilities. U.S. EPA. U.S. EPA, April 2007. Accessed June 6, 2011.
20
21
Supra note 2.
22
Alternative and Advanced Fuels. What is biogas? U.S. DOE. U.S. DOE. Accessed June 13, 2011.
23
Supra note 7.
24
25
Supra note 9.
26
Mullins P. A., Tikalsky S. M. Anaerobic Digester Implementation Issues. Phase II A Survey of California Farmers (Dairy Power
Production Program). California Energy Commission. December 2006. Accessed June 13 2011.
27
28
DSIRE. Net Metering Map. June 2011. Accessed June 13, 2011.
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